Saturday, 3 June 2017

Wargame Rules – Battle Casualties

In
most wargame rules battle casualties are not relevant, other than to determine
who won or lost a particular battle.In
campaign wargames they are critical.

The
approach to writing wargame rules for use in a long running campaign is much
different from standard commercial rules.They are still important to determine who won or lost the battle.But if they are carried back to the campaign
and no replacements for battle casualties allowed the loser will continue to
lose in subsequent campaign battles..

I
wanted each of our wargames to be enjoyable and for both sides to have a
reasonable chance to win, no matter what had happened earlier in the
campaign.But I also wanted battle
casualties to have a lasting effect on the corps concerned throughout the
campaign.

The
answer, of course, lay in campaign rules which would allow reinforcements to
replace battle casualties over a set period and in set circumstances.I will cover this later when I deal with
campaign rules.

But
the wargame rules would also have to play their part.

It
was important that neither side suffered too many casualties.If they did it would take too long for
reinforcements to make up the loss.This was particularly relevant for cavalry and artillery.

After the battle infantry
casualties could be combined into one of the four brigades.This would reduce the effect on the other
three brigades.But this did not apply
to cavalry or artillery, because there was only one of each in each corps.

The
most important factor in our wargames is morale, or lack of same.

Brigades
would have to test morale when they suffered any casualties, or when a friendly
brigade routed within supporting distance (which is 4”).To pass their morale they would roll 1D6 and
require 3,4,5 or 6 to pass.A total of
2 and they are disordered, 1 and they are shaken but 0 or less they would
rout.And then all brigades within 4”
would have to test, and they might rout as well.

This
rule results in games where full strength and supported brigades will do what
you want them to do.But once they
receive casualties, or if they start the battle with casualties, they are
likely to break and run.And that will
often cause adjacent brigades to join them.

Battle
casualties are quite difficult to inflict.Artillery require 8 or more with 2D6.Infantry skirmish require 5 or 6 with 1D6.Cavalry melee often end in both disordered
with no casualties.But once a brigade
suffers one casualties they are vulnerable, and with each additional casualty
become more so.It is unusual for a
brigade to continue to fight with more than 2 (20%) casualties.

The
result is that almost all of our wargames end with one side losing some, though
rarely all, of their brigades in rout.